ACCUWEATHER: When will the cold ease in the northeastern US?

By Alex SosnowskiAccuWeather.com

Monday

May 13, 2019 at 1:08 PM

In the cold air, where clouds dominate, high temperatures are likely to be in the 40s and 50s. Southwest of the cold air batch, highs are likely to be in the 60s, 70s and even the 80s. It is possible the temperature contrast will be even more extreme than this and snow may again fall on part of New England.

Warmth is likely to have an easier time rolling into and lasting a while in the Midwest versus the northeastern United States over the next couple of weeks.

The same convoluted nature of the jet stream that brought an unusual chill to the Southwest and warmth to the Northwest last week will be a key player in the weather over the northeastern quarter of the nation in the coming days.

The pattern is more typical of early April, rather than the middle of May.

Usually by the middle of May the jet stream has taken on a straighter, west-to-east configuration.

"The pattern is preventing the normal west-to-east motion of storms, and this is happening from North America to Europe," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Eric Leister.

What happens in this type of setup is that cold air can move southward or form in place and get bottled up in areas such as the Northeast and part of the Midwest.

"The jet stream is forecast to shift around slightly during the middle to latter part of the week," according to AccuWeather Long-Range Meteorologist Max Vido.

The change should be enough to allow a warmup to progress from the Midwest to the Northeast. Highs in the 30s, 40s and 50s will be replaced with highs in mainly the 60s and 70s.

"However, the atmospheric traffic jam will still exist and may cause more trouble into early next week," Vido said.

At this time, it appears that much of the Midwest will stay in the warmer air or at least in a zone of "less-cold air."

"On the other hand, northern and eastern New England may be in the cross hairs of another plunge of cold air this weekend into early next week," Vido said.

"How significant that cold air is and how far to the south and west the cold air extends will have a profound effect on actual temperatures from the eastern Great Lakes to the central Appalachians, mid-Atlantic and southwestern New England," Vido added.

From New England to portions of the central Appalachians, temperature forecasts may change significantly this weekend into early next week.

In the cold air, where clouds dominate, high temperatures are likely to be in the 40s and 50s. Southwest of the cold air batch, highs are likely to be in the 60s, 70s and even the 80s. It is possible the temperature contrast will be even more extreme than this and snow may again fall on part of New England.

Part of New England were hit with high-elevation wet snow on Sunday and more is forecast to fall during Monday night and Tuesday.

In such a pattern, a temperature difference of 40 degrees or more may set up in a span of 100 miles or less.

In another scenario, warmth from the Midwest may move into much of the Northeast with cold air limited to eastern Quebec and the Canadian Maritime Provinces this weekend and then hold in place next week.

"We should have a much better idea as to the extent of the chilly air rebound later this week after a rare May rainstorm makes landfall in California and we see how much, or not, the jet stream pattern gets buckled," Vido said.

In the meantime, warmer days are ahead for the Midwest and the cold air will ease for a time in the Northeast later this week.